Ordo Meeting - 12JUN10

[Dascede]

~ORDO IMPERIALIS~

OFFICIAL DOCUMENT

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**********Meeting Report**********

NAME/RANK/DIVISION: Dascede Aluveaux | O-1; Triplicarius | Astra

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DATE: 12 June 2010

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SUBJECT: General discussion; diplomacy, developments, reminders.

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SUMMARY: Large amount gathered this evening. Summer benefit!

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CHAT LOG:

Meeting Opener

[18:00] Aryte Vesperia shouts: Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s meeting. Per the norm, please be certain to hold all questions and comments until provided the opportunity to speak. Interruptions will result in dismissal from the gathering. When you are provided the chance to speak, be sure to /shout/ your comments or questions—otherwise the recorder may not hear you. Thank you: let’s get started.

Imperator's Report

[18:00] Aryte Vesperia: To begin, our weekly statistics:

Personnel

Members: 305

Cadets: 6

Applications

New: 15

Accepted: 6

Denied: 5

Review: 4

Combat

Defensive: 77

Offensive: 13

[18:01] Aryte Vesperia: Diplomatic occurrences this week . . . uh, essentially the only major change would be the Ordo Imperialis has entered hostile status with the Alliance Navy, following repeated AN attacks against the Merczateers.

[18:01] Aryte Vesperia: Otherwise, it has been relatively quiet on the political front.

Divisional Reports

[18:02] Aryte Vesperia: Unit reports?

[18:02] Detox Exonar salutes.

[18:02] Lestat Umarov: I need a moment. Writing a bit more than usual Sir.

[18:02] Agares Tretiak raises his hand.

[18:02] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Tretiak.

Praetorian Guard

[18:03] Agares Tretiak: The Praetorian Guard has had a fairly quiet week, for the most part. Activity is solid, across the board, and we've been making expansions on some of our internal policies. We should be having the Induction ceremony next weekend, if there arent' any major scheduling conflicts that occur.

[18:04] Agares Tretiak: Aside from that, only a single minor excursion to New Jessie, as Guard specific combat.

[18:04] Agares Tretiak: (Luckily, my conneciton is more stable now, so things should pick up).

[18:05] Agares Tretiak: That's all, sir.

[18:05] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you.

Astra

[18:05] Aryte Vesperia: I will speak on behalf of Astra, then:

[18:06] Aryte Vesperia: Astra has been making a considerable effort toward revitalizing air combat both here internally and externally across the grid. Kudos to the Astra NCO and officer staff for their efforts. Currently, there is a strong movement to restructure and reimagine how flight training and Astra itself is to be envisioned as a unit.

[18:07] Aryte Vesperia: Air combat, as stands . . more often than not, is seen as a burden, rather than a dynamic that enriches combat.

[18:07] Aryte Vesperia: Astra is seeking to remedy that.

[18:07] Aryte Vesperia: Next?

[18:08] Detox Exonar: Raises hand

[18:08] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Exonar?

[18:08] Detox Exonar: Pardon me sir - but I have not been totally up to date on all the movement regarding ASTRA change - can you discuss briefly what these changes may be?

[18:10] Aryte Vesperia: Ms. Aluveaux, go ahead.

[18:11] Dascede Aluveaux: Detox: we are currently looking at integrating objectives to make air combat useful in conjunction with ground combat. We are also making the first steps toward talks with other AD commanders to reopen lost areas, such as (maybe) air-to-ground fighting.

[18:11] Dascede Aluveaux: The idea of a redo on the SMG, and the upcoming flight suit may also provide some benefits.

[18:12] Dascede Aluveaux: And finally, we are looking for fresh blood: more Schola cadets.

[18:12] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you.

[18:12] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Umarov?

[18:12] Detox Exonar: Thank you Dascede - yes I have been reading some ASTRA posts - and I liek the sound of these thoughts on how to change ASTRA - especisally - any movement to open up Air to Ground and ground to air - I apprecaite the update

Terra

[18:12] Lestat Umarov shouts: Overall it's been quite a busy week for Terra. Aside from the usual raids and defensive movements there's been quite a few administrative changes in Cohors B. Soulbinder Wolfstein has stepped down as the temperporary CO of Cohors B with thatguy Andel's return and subsequent promotion from XO to CO. Congratulations thatguy. This also means that there is a position open in Century II for those that would like to apply. I have a couple general notices as well. As of today Praetorian Initiate Soulbinder Wolfstein has been appointed Terra Chief Advisor and has Unrestricted access to the weekly reports and documentation provided that myself and Centurion Breed recieve. You are REQUIRED to send him copies of your reports as well. Lastly, I start college on the 21st of June. I'm not sure how busy I will be in the next week or so but will post a notice on the forums when I have a better idea. If I am unavailable please contact Centurion Breed or Soulbinder.

[18:13] Lestat Umarov shouts: From Keler for Invictus: "Another up-tempo week from Invictus. Numerous raids were led or accompanied by Invictus, and everyone was quite active. All in all a good week."

[18:14] Lestat Umarov shouts: From Zerowinged for Antesignani: "Work on the XCR continues with the MASS system being worked out script wise. One raid preformed and one training preformed. One slot open."

[18:14] Lestat Umarov shouts: From Zrazor for Insidiae: "Development and activity has stalled for the squad this week as I took a bit of an unannounced low-activity period during the past week to address some RL issues. We have managed to fill one of our empty slots and we welcome Arc Vyper to the squad. Over the next week I intend to get the crossbow build finished and finalized, hopefully getting it finished and issued before AC."

[18:14] Lestat Umarov shouts: From thatguy for Cohors B: "Praise for SoulBinder, thank you for assuming CO of Cohors B in my absence. Cohors B is picking up on activity, as century meets and raids are going on. Not much PRF's this time around, so be sure and bug your CO's for PRF's. This week looks like another week of good ole' work as the Cohors B Centuries will be going through a revamp. Along with this, I am expecting to see more Century raids, and a lot more PRF's!"

[18:14] Lestat Umarov shouts: From myself for the Adiutor staff: "I appoligize for any delays in the Unit of the Month documentation. I will try to get a discussion going on the thread I used as a placeholder earlier. I've been extraordinarily busy this past month with college preparations."

[18:15] Lestat Umarov shouts: And one last thing. As I said last week I'd like to see more unit level training events. I cannot stress enough how important this is to squad cohesion!

[18:15] Lestat Umarov shouts: This cocludes my report for Terra. Any additional reports may be given at the discretion of the Imperator.

[18:16] Aryte Vesperia: Very good. Thank you for the input.

[18:16] Aryte Vesperia: Any additional reports?

[18:16] Ron Bleac raises hand.

[18:16] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Bleac.

Tactica

[18:16] Ron Bleac: Thank you, Imperator.

[18:16] Ron Bleac shouts: Tactica structural changes. This is something that I've been thinking about for a while now. Tactica, as it stands, is overly complicated. We even had Wiki, but we're dumping that in an effort to streamline the process and make information easily accessible. Our forums, will hopefully have a public section added to them. But this is so far, still on the drawing board. I don't think even the Imperator himself has been informed, that's a my bad. In regards to our internal ranks, those will also be changed completely. No more funny and overtly complicated latin names- We're most likely looking at even completely repurposing an entire rank within Tactica. Perhaps I should say position, instead of rank. But oh well, you get it!

[18:17] Ron Bleac shouts: In other news, we had our first meeting last night! It went very well, and hopefully, my energy permitting, the log will be up tonight as promised. We discussed some key topics, and the turnout was absolutely magnificent. Ideas were thrown about, and all were taken down and listed for further consideration. Meanwhile, Corsi (omg thank you<3) is working hard on the folders and Tactica reports. As mentioned previously, you can see them in the radar room. They contain landmarks, information about spawn groups, etc. Use them! They're a valuable resource!

[18:18] Ron Bleac: Whilst Tactica is still in development, we can take some dramatic turns. Now is the time -you- can influence what we do. We are always looking for more people. Refer to the Ordo forums and the general discussion section for more information.

[18:18] Ron Bleac: Thank you. That is all.

[18:18] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you, Mr. Bleac.

[18:19] Aryte Vesperia: Any additional reports?

Old Business

[18:19] Aryte Vesperia: Very good. Any old business to bring up this evening?

[18:20] Aryte Vesperia: One sidenote from me, then: working on officer elevations this weekend.

[18:20] Aryte Vesperia: \o/ etc. On to the keynote.

Keynote Topics

[18:21] Aryte Vesperia: First up this evening, there are some upcoming changes to the civilian group to be mentioned. As of current, the bounds on the civilian group are fairly haphazard and mismanaged—overseers are not entirely accountable, and, many times it comes into a matter of “who invited X to the civilian group?”

[18:22] Aryte Vesperia: To change this, some modifications are going to be made as to how civilians are handled. Foremost, there will be tiers of involvement within civilian status in both the way of Ordo oversight and civilians themselves:

[18:23] Aryte Vesperia: There will continue to be Ordo Overseers, who are responsible for maintaining invitations and ejects from the group. However, in addition to which, we will be adding an administrative role on top of the Overseers: ideally, an NCO or possibly an officer who is responsible for managing invitations and ensuring documentation is secured for civilians.

[18:24] Aryte Vesperia: The commander(s) would maintain a running roster of civilian invitations with their vouches, on a public forum in the report area of our webpage. Furthermore, the administrator would serve as the primary liaison to civilians, ensuring that Ordo personnel are respecting their rights of visitation.

[18:25] Aryte Vesperia: As for civilians, a separation will also be made in the way of classing civilians: we will have regular, everyday civilians—just like now, who are not allowed to be armed, et cetera. However, in addition to which, we will permit limited assignment of trusted civilians to a special role: class two, or “civil defense force” civilians.

[18:26] Aryte Vesperia: These individuals would undergo a clearance process to receive permission to maintain light arms during visitation within our parameters. Essentially, if we have “usual” visitors who are deemed to be respectful and within the capability, we will grant them the ability to act as a sort of citizen militia—absorbing bullets for us at their leisure. Appointment to the CDF will be sparse: it is just another avenue and available option for individuals we as a group may consider to be “friends of the Ordo” who, for whatever reason, may not fit as an actual member of the Ordo.

[18:27] Aryte Vesperia: CDF members would not be counted as actual combatants for the group, nor would they reasonably be substitute for any defensive requirement. However, it would be kind of amusing to send an armed mob against another military at our leisure for the sake of . . . well, because we can.

[18:28] Aryte Vesperia: Overall, the CDF will be utilized as a recruitment tool for individuals who are "borderline." It'll serve as an opportunity for us to give people curious with combat the chance to participate in it, with the intent to eventually get them in uniform. In the near future there will be a culling of inactive overseers and then an appointment of the administrator role, who will then be capable of determining who will be appointed or dismissed from overseer status. This is another great opportunity for any NCO looking for some work.

[18:29] Aryte Vesperia: Questions?

[18:29] Kraton Foxtrot raises a paw.

[18:29] Aryte Vesperia: Foxtrot?

[18:30] Lestat Umarov raises hand

[18:31] Dascede Aluveaux: (Make sure you shout)

[18:32] Kraton Foxtrot: I'm curious about the details of how one would find someone qualified to be a CDF. Aside from a person being trusted by the overseer, I would think there should be a list of reqirements to keep from being at risk from open attack from someone trusted right within our ranks.

[18:32] Kraton Foxtrot: or rather, right in the middle of us,

[18:33] Aryte Vesperia: There will be a list of requirements and it'd receive a senior officer, at least, to sign off on it. It is to be a very limited thing-- simply, the administrative support is there when we run into a situation (as we have in the past), where someone we're comfortable with is interested in joining, but isn't sure if it is something he or she really wants to do.

[18:34] Aryte Vesperia: Umarov?

[18:34] Kraton Foxtrot: Thank you sir. That answered my question.

[18:35] Maverick Garfield raises his hand.

[18:35] Lestat Umarov: I was curious if there'd ve any consequences to those that invite anyone to the combat role if they suddenly decide to turn on us.

[18:35] Lestat Umarov: be*

[18:36] Aryte Vesperia: Again, the combat role would be extremely limited and reserved to approval from senior officers. I don't really anticipate this to be a problem. We're talking about situations like Mark Karlfeldt-- who hung around here for two years trying to decide if this was cool before joining.

[18:37] Aryte Vesperia: If it becomes an issue, yes, punishment can be arranged.

[18:37] Aryte Vesperia: Stoanes?

[18:37] Jake Stoanes shouts: Will the CDF members get assigned gear from the Ordo, or will they be responsible for their own gear?

[18:37] Aryte Vesperia: No gear whatsoever. Thank you for shouting.

[18:37] Aryte Vesperia: Garfield?

[18:37] Maverick Garfield shouts: What happens when someone is placed in the cizy group and once they are in they start to troll the sim do we need oic permission to take them out ?

[18:37] Huttser Ishelwood raises a paw

[18:38] Aryte Vesperia: Such is the accountability factor, every individual will be vouched for and documented. You've always need OIC approval before shooting civilians-- so yes.

[18:38] Aryte Vesperia: Ishelwood?

[18:38] Agares Tretiak raises his hand.

[18:39] Aryte Vesperia: Last question to Tretiak.

[18:40] Huttser Ishelwood: Would the CDF litteraly be a mob of unorginised civilians who we can throw at who we want, or will there be some structure to it, say with an NCO appointed to oversee any deployments they may take, defensive and offensive?

[18:41] Agares Tretiak: I'm assuming there will be strict punishments and clearly state guidelines for all CDF, yes? my concern comes down to CoC, though, and proper distribution of communications and orders. Would it be appropriate to summarily execute and eject a recalcitrant CDF member, for instance?

[18:41] Garion Lowenhardt cracks back into place.

[18:41] Aryte Vesperia: Yes, there is already a gigantic list of regulations in existence

[18:41] Aryte Vesperia: .

[18:41] Aryte Vesperia: On that note maybe we should rename it PDF.

[18:42] Aryte Vesperia: Hurp durp. Moving on.

[18:42] Aryte Vesperia: As you are all probably aware, the dress attire and command coats have been updated—and wow, they are wonderful. The next project Disembodied is working on is the Ordo flight suit. He anticipates it to be done around the 16th of this month.

[18:42] Aryte Vesperia: That leaves the rest of the month for him to work on the new armor sets. He intends to be finished with those by the end of the month, right on schedule.

[18:43] Aryte Vesperia: The first set to be completed will be a universal base, after which variants for all of the combat units will be done. I haven’t quite decided in what order. Probably will flip a coin, or let whichever unit has been the coolest (I accept coffee bribes) go first.

In short: a lot of fitting looming in the near future, sorry.

[18:43] Vilkacis Mason: O_O

[18:44] Aryte Vesperia: Cheesecake also, yes. Thank you for clarifying, Heather.

[18:44] Aryte Vesperia: Moving on:

[18:44] Aryte Vesperia: Wow I am being spammed with bribes.

[18:44] Aryte Vesperia: Lol.

[18:45] Aryte Vesperia: [18:45] Arokh Takakura gave you KICK ASS MAGIC RAINBOW BITCHING AWESOME PEN OF COOLNESS.

[18:45] Aryte Vesperia: wtf?

[18:45] Arokh Takakura: It's a crayon. :>

[18:45] Kraton Foxtrot: Are tehre any regulations on what forms of bribery we may use :P jk

[18:45] Eriksson Foxtrot raises a hand in regards to the new armour

[18:45] Aryte Vesperia: Whatever unit you're in goes last.

[18:45] Aryte Vesperia: Foxtrot?

[18:46] Eriksson Foxtrot: You may have mentioned this already but: What is the theme of the new armour?

[18:46] Tiridates Mikadze raises his hand.

[18:46] Nrom Normandy raises his hand.

[18:46] Aryte Vesperia: FML. this meeting is never going to end. Hahaha.

[18:47] Aryte Vesperia: Tiri, did you want to show?

[18:47] Tiridates Mikadze nods enthusiatically

[18:47] Aryte Vesperia: Go ahead.

[18:47] Eriksson Foxtrot: Sorry. Just curious - would you happen to have models/ or design images?

[18:47] Aryte Vesperia: Nothing to be sorry for. Just a lot of questions hahaha.

[18:47] Tiridates Mikadze shouts: Okay, people, as I'm sure you're all aware, new armor. I have some designs, nothing fancy, but it should give you the idea. One second while I pull them up

[18:50] Tiridates Mikadze shouts: That is the chest itself. Notes on materialis are to indicate surface texture analogs, NOT what it's actually made of.

[18:51] Tiridates Mikadze shouts: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4692479258_e089ff38aa_b.jpg

[18:52] Tiridates Mikadze shouts: More details on the armor. Again, notes are on appearence, not actual materials. Anyone who wants to know the fluff composition of the armor, I actually have a little notecard detailing that.

[18:52] Tiridates Mikadze shouts: Feel free to IM me for a copy.

[18:52] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you, Tiri.

[18:53] Aryte Vesperia: Normandy? (Last question on this topic.)

[18:53] Eriksson Foxtrot: Thank you for providing visuals, Tiridates.

[18:53] Nrom Normandy shouts: Earlier it was mentioned that there was a Unit of the Month program in development for terra. Perhaps this could be expanded since we have more than a month left to include all of the divisions and find some way to determine which unit is the best for the month of June and let them have first dibs on their specific division alterations. Competition is more fun than bribes. That is all, thank you.

[18:54] Aryte Vesperia: I'll let Lestat follow up with that if he'd like?

[18:55] Aryte Vesperia: Actually, let's have him drop a forum post on the matter. We're eating time up dramatically tonight. Let's push on.

[18:55] Lestat Umarov: You're saying you'd like it expanded to include the other divisions?

[18:56] Aryte Vesperia: Ohhhhh . .

[18:56] Aryte Vesperia: I see what you mean, Nrom.

[18:56] Aryte Vesperia: That's a great idea. I agree. It should be by competition. The bribe thing was a joke.

[18:57] Lestat Umarov: It's only on phase two out of four in terms of plannign Sir.

[18:57] Lestat Umarov: planning*

[18:57] Aryte Vesperia: We'll work something out to determine the armor, even if the unit of the month dealio isn't ready.

[18:57] Aryte Vesperia: Now-- moving on!

[18:58] Aryte Vesperia: About . . . ten or so days from now, myself and a good deal of other folks will be running off for our annual Ordo congregating in one spot at a convention outing. Based upon recent numbers, I do not expect that defense will experience anything close to being “gutted.” In addition to which, we have tons of qualified raid leaders who are not going . . . so business will continue as usual.

[18:59] Lestat Umarov: I'll be around Sir :C

[18:59] Aryte Vesperia: I will be releasing a full itinerary next week, along with holding a major meeting going over my expectations prior to leaving. I just wanted to give a little heads up now. I do not really imagine anything will be changing, outside of there being generally less of me around for a few days. Heh. We’ll go over all of that come next week’s meeting.

[18:59] Aryte Vesperia: Moving right along:

[18:59] Aryte Vesperia: The idea was proposed to me (Hollowmengitus, I believe) that during the officer meeting there’s a lot of downtime for enlisted personnel. As such, it was suggested that during said time group training could be held—this clears up the 5:00 time slot we usually do it, allowing for more raid time on Sunday.

[19:00] Aryte Vesperia: I whole heartedly agree and would like to see NCO staff step up to volunteer to lead combat practices every Sunday during the officer meeting. If necessary, I can pre-write scenarios for NCOs . . . or, if an NCO wishes to be an over achiever, they are more than welcome to write their own.

[19:00] Aryte Vesperia: I will open a sign up list here in a bit.

[19:02] Aryte Vesperia: Next up: on Monday I will be working with Vincent Lucerne to patch up a few holes and add more defensive postures for the current sim build. After which, I am going to have Chronus moved off of Titan.

[19:02] Aryte Vesperia: You can expect . . probably an immediate and dramatic increase in defensive combat. Most of our big enemies have simply hated the sim border.

[19:02] Aryte Vesperia: So, just be ready for that.

[19:03] Aryte Vesperia: Aaaaand the final topic from me:

[19:04] Aryte Vesperia: For that final topic from me tonight, I want to take some time to just sort of mull about the summer and the group’s expansion. Foremost, as we’re all quite aware . . . the summer months mean a huge amount of additional activity for the military community, the Ordo included. The group has grown immensely over the last couple of weeks, with dozens of applications denied weekly.

[19:05] Aryte Vesperia: Our average participant number is steady at thirty, with peak hours pushing into the forties. Even late nights are running about fifteen—a time when we used to see about five. Most of the time, the group’s numbers far exceeds that of all other military groups, providing us the prime opportunity to launch multiple raids daily.

[19:05] Aryte Vesperia: For that, you should all be quite proud—I am. It is outstanding and I am really happy that we’ve pushed another threshold and achieved even greater heights as an organization. You all deserve a great deal of admiration for your hard work. Without you, it really would not have been possible.

[19:06] Aryte Vesperia: On the flip side, however, we must be sober in realizing group growth also exposes several potentials for problems. Foremost, increase in the member base means we are adding a host of new personalities into an existing stream of them—human nature would dictate that usually means conflict. Overall, the Ordo has done quite well in immersing and respecting the individual identities of new members. And, new members have done quite well in socializing to fit the group.

[19:07] Aryte Vesperia: However, it is important to be fair in realizing when you stick thirty people together on a single region and force them to interact constantly—even in a professional atmosphere—conflict will and does occur. What I ask of all of you is to do your best to mitigate and maintain a respect for one another. First off, by realizing that everyone here has wants and needs of their own, just like you. A group is built out of setting aside personal wants and needs for the group’s wants and needs—but even internally; every individual has aspirations for the group and how the group should be shaped. Maturity is accepting that, and, accepting deviations to your own perspective.

[19:08] Aryte Vesperia: Secondly, when a conflict does occur: treat it as an isolated event—focus on the element of the disagreement, rather than turning it into a personal matter. For example, if you are asked to cease doing something because it is an infraction against our rules . . . do not turn it into a “whoever just told me to stop is the problem.” That is entirely unhealthy for the group and your relationship within the group.

[19:09] Aryte Vesperia: Through respect for one another and respect for the atmosphere of the group, we have come a long way over a long period of time. I do not expect that this will ever change or become an epidemic matter. But, as we grow, it is important to remind and reinforce the values that have made us the group we are today.

[19:10] Aryte Vesperia: I am not going to pretend that everyone here is best friends: that would be incredibly foolish. I am aware of some disliking between members, both on a professional and personal level. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.

[19:11] Aryte Vesperia: Just keep in mind at the end of the day; we are all on the same side. It may be a virtual world, but all too often are we reminded how important that side becomes. So, if you have an issue with someone, I would hope that they are at least respected for their decision to be here and work towards the same goals—even if egos clash, you are still supporting one another directly.

[19:12] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you for listening. I hope that makes some sense.

[19:12] Kraton Foxtrot: Here, here. :D

[19:12] Aryte Vesperia: For time sake, skipping open floor. We managed to take a long time this evening haha.

[19:13] Jinxy Fluffball raises hand

Meeting Closer

[19:13] Aryte Vesperia: Promotions will be posted . . likely tomrrow morning. I want to include the officer elevations to it, but if that takes too long I'll hold off and get the majority of the recommendations processed.

[19:14] Aryte Vesperia: Combat: I will get it sorted as soon as possible. I have some plans to attend to this evening, so I won't be on very long. I apologize-- I'll try to make up for my own time tomorrow. But, we'll get some raid(s) out this evening.

[19:14] Aryte Vesperia: Having said all that: you are dismissed. Have a wonderful evening.

[19:14] Aryte Vesperia clasps his fist to his chest, presenting a salute.